Why everyone's talking about Peckham right now

Rumble in the jungle

Manu National Park is part of the Manu Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancient tangle of trees and waterfalls in Peru. Giant otters swim in the lakes and spider monkeys swing through the canopy. Blue-headed macaws, brightly coloured parrots and parakeets chatter away in the trees; ornate hawk-eagles circle above.

Thanks to the opening of the Boca Manu airstrip, the park can be reached in less than two hours from Cusco. Until recently, visitors had been unable to stay within the national park, instead having to hike in from camps on the outskirts each day. Now there's an altogether more comfortable option: Romero Rainforest Lodge, which has just opened on a bank of the Manu River, with eight thatched bungalows and wildlife, quite literally, on the doorstep.

Crees, a non-profit-making research organisation operating out of the Manu Learning Centre, now offers biologist-led group tours into the park, incorporating stays at the lodge. Guests can venture out in search of black caiman (a crocodile-like reptile) and peccaries (wild boar) on a trail that runs through the park.